HISTORIC FLAGLER BRIDGE OVERLOOK RENOVATIONS AT BAHIA HONDA STATE PARK

The historic Flagler Bridge Overlook is located in Bahia Honda State Park, about 35 miles from Key West, FL.  The overlook is part of Henry Flagler’s historic Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railway and the original structure spanned between Bahia Honda Key and Spanish Harbor Key.  The bridge opened for railway traffic in 1912.  The railroad and right-of-way was sold to the state of Florida after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 damaged or destroyed miles of track in the Keys.  The bridge was converted to vehicle use for the Overseas Highway in 1938 and closed in the 1970’s when a parallel replacement bridge was built.  The two truss spans on the Bahia Honda side were converted to a pedestrian overlook, but was closed off to the public in 2015 due to severe corrosion issues.

This repair project consisted of assessing the bridge overlook’s current condition, removing old utility pipe and determining the best design to restore the bridge as historically accurate as possible while also making it safe for park visitor use.  Ms. Johnson’s role was to perform an in-depth inspection of the superstructure which involved detailed documentation of the structural condition and taking measurements of all members for load rating purposes.  Rope access and fall protection were used to gain hands-on access to the structure.